David is a busy boy. He is trying to maintain several romantic relationships, all while starting a new career that consumes much of his time. Here in Chapter 16, we see one decision he made in an effort to make his life easier.
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By this time, I was getting acclimated to my new role as president of a major charitable foundation. When Victoria started the job, she didn't know all the steps necessary to launch that kind of start up. But she knew how to find out. The first months of the foundation's existence were unusually successful because of Victoria's hard work. I'd already known she was a very smart woman; she started proving that on a daily basis. I was proud of her, and proud of myself for helping her stay in school.
We both knew we had feelings for each other, and we intended to act on those feelings. It seemed risky. We were business partners who happened to be taking the first steps to begin a romantic relationship, and we both knew that a lot of people regretted trying that. Still, neither one of us had second thoughts about our decision. We liked and respected each other so much it made it easy to believe we could find a way. And, of course, I had the sonic stimulator. I didn't want to use it on Victoria, but I knew it could resolve any possible conflict.
After I bought my penthouse, I took Victoria on a tour of the complex and asked if she thought we should buy it. We needed permanent office space for the foundation; it was available in the complex. A lot of the foundation's clients would need temporary housing; there were lots of condos listed for sale at discount prices because they needed someone to "refresh" them. I figured we could buy the whole complex for a good price.
Victoria thought that was a bad idea. "We don't need most of the things in this development," she said. "It would be easier to just lease office space here. We could buy the units on sale one at a time, and let the property management company continue running the day-to-day business. We are a charity, not a real estate company.
"Besides, I'm a little concerned how it would look to the donors. This is one of the biggest pieces of privately owned property in the city. Donors might not want to give money to a charity that could afford to buy a place like this."
She was right, of course. I knew that the sonic stimulator guaranteed that the donors would continue supporting us no matter how much stuff we bought, but I realized that a lot of people would take notice if we pulled off such a big purchase. People in the business community would notice. The media would notice. People would ask questions, and I wanted our operation to raise as few questions as possible. I told Victoria to hire a realtor and get started buying individual units, starting with her own corporate housing.
"I am looking forward to having my home and my office in the same complex," I said. "Not many people can commute to work in an elevator."
"That will be very nice," she said.
"Do not, under any circumstance, think you need to buy a cheap unit for yourself," I said. "You are going to have clients over. You are going to entertain donors and business partners. Consultants. You will need a big, comfortable space. Get the biggest unit available. Hire a good designer. Get expensive furnishings. Go all out; lots of people will see your home."
Victoria smiled. "When you say something like that, I can never tell if it's because you are trying to be a good boss, or a good boyfriend."
"Both! Why not both?" I said.
Victoria was treating me like a boyfriend, but she wanted to move so slowly I was getting impatient. It must have had something to do with that conservative religious atmosphere at home. We'd go out, she'd invite me into her apartment afterward, and we'd sit on the sofa and make out. For a while. It was very nice and romantic, but it always ended before we became seriously intimate. I was thrilled the evening when she finally allowed me to caress her breasts through her clothes. I hadn't wanted to touch a woman so badly in my whole life. I could tell Victoria had wanted it, too. When it finally happened, she moaned and groaned like we were actually making love. Of course, that didn't happen until much later. But it was progress.
I never explicitly asked Victoria if she was a virgin. She told me she'd never had a boyfriend, and I knew her parents raised her in a virtual cage, so it made sense to assume she'd never made love. I looked forward to finding out for sure. But it was taking such a long time that I felt frustrated. And by frustrated, I mean I felt horny. Very horny. I'd leave Victoria's apartment with a boner that lasted long enough to be on display when I walked into the penthouse.
It always amused Mary. "That little girl got you all worked up again, didn't she?" Mary asked with an impish smile on her face. She'd rub one hand over the front of my pants and say "Tell me about your date."
By this time Mary and I were both sincerely interested in each other's affairs. Mary had become increasingly intimate with Mariana. I was happy for them both. I made love with Mariana on a regular basis, we had threesomes frequently, and we even went on vacations together. I liked hearing about their deepening relationship. Mariana had ignited a new kind of passion in Mary, who had never been with a woman before. It was nice hearing about their time together.
Mary felt the same way about me. She wanted to hear all the details whenever I was with another woman. That happened so often that I felt the need to use the sonic stimulator to keep Mary from questioning the large number of women I took to bed. She sat me down on the sofa, undid my belt, unzipped my pants, then wrapped her little hand around my hard cock. "Tell me all about it," she said.
"I took Victoria to that nice little Mexican restaurant Mariana recommended. The entrees are a bit heavy, but I think you'd like it."
"If nothing else, I suppose I'd like their Margarita's," Mary said.
"We had a nice conversation. She's still having trouble wrapping her head around the fact that she got such a good job straight out of grad school. This is very unusual for a person with a brand new MBA and no actual experience."
"But you told her she's doing a good job, didn't you?" Mary asked.
"Of course," I said.
"Please tell me you talked about things other than work," Mary said. "Please tell me you got her to talk about herself."
"Of course I did," I said. "She said some things that were so revealing that I worried I'd gotten her to tell me about things she'd rather keep private. We talked about what it was like for her being raised by extremist religious fanatics. Her parents are toxic. Everytime I learn something new about them, I figure I must have heard the worst, but then Victoria tells me something more horrible than all the other horrible things she told me before. She said something tonight that was very disturbing."
"Oh dear," Mary said.
"When Victoria was in high school, there was a friend of hers whose family went to the same church," I said. "Somehow, the girl's parents found out their daughter was attracted to other females. It caused a shitstorm. They made the girl come up in front of the whole church so the congregation could pray for God to raise her out of sin. They sent her away to one of those horrible places that use that quackery called "conversion therapy" to try to turn her into a heterosexual. They forced her to go on dates with boys from the church. It went on, and on, and on.
"It went on until she killed herself," I said.
Mary looked shocked, of course. "Oh my God!" she said. At some point we both noticed that my cock wasn't the slightest bit hard anymore, and Mary pulled her hand from inside my pants. "How did Victoria survive such a thing?" Mary said.
"She shed a few tears when she told me this story," I said. "She knew the girl fairly well. Victoria said this was just one more thing that convinced her she didn't believe in any gods, especially the one her parents worshiped. It helped destroy her opinion of her parents, and of religious extremists in general."
"She must enjoy seeing her parents struggle with the fact that she's so successful, and that she's completely unlike them," Mary said.
